Our Apartment (January 29, 2008)

Well when we were naked in Bulgaria, we were washing our clothes nightly and running around with a blanket on for clothing during the night while our clothes dried. I was ill prepared for the much delayed luggage but now that it is finally here and intact, we are doing better. It is cold, damp and did I say cold here.

The "Blocks" - condo type buildings put up by the Soviets - block the sun for most of the day and also block any view except for another Block.

We have a two room "apartment" as they call it, but it is owned by a private person whom we have only briefly met when the City came on Sunday afternoon to read the cold water meter, the hot water meter and the electric meter. Hot water is for the radiators. We have an entry tax, pays for the lady to clean the entry and halls, and elevator tax - we have an elevator in our block and there is a tax on it too. The elevator is quaint. It is about 3 feet X 4 feet but it works well. We are on the 4th floor so we appreciate the lift when we are carrying stuff in.

The voltage for everything here is 220 volts so anything we brought from the US has to have a voltage converter plus the plugs are different too, so you have a converter and an adapter to plug something in.

We have a frig, dishwasher, clothes washer and a dryer, albeit the dryer is on the patio! Everything is apartment size so we wash frequently.

Oh yes and the toilet closet is separate from the tub shower closet. They are several feet apart and around the corner from each other.

Well, more later, we are working 12 hour days right now learning our office duties and how to function in a foreign land.

The people are great and we love them already. It is just a different culture.

The winter view from our apartment balcony.

This is our dryer (out on the balcony). There is no problem with venting of the dryer here. This is not normal (I don't think). It appears that most people just hang the laundry out on the balcony to dry.